Narrator: Welcome back! Your watching Ship Shape TV.
Boat improvement made easy!
John: What I have here is a
pre 2011 fuel tank, alright.
Guys, I don't know if you've ever had a problem
when you going to fill up
a tank but it spits back out at ya?
And you know it's not full.
Okay you put in a gallon, okay and it's spitting back at ya.
You put in another gallon and it's spitting back at ya.
Well there are some inherit problems
with the old fuel systems.
And the EPA has come along and said hey,
we need to solve this problem. We got to keep fuel out of the water
and we got to keep vapors out of the atmosphere.
Okay, well we're now down in Miami, Florida
we are at Perko.
And I want to introduce you to one of the engineers out here this is Robert Trabue.
And Robert you have engineered something you have worked with the EPA.
You've worked with a lot of big companies in
the automotive industry.
To give us
a fuel system on a boat
that's kind of just like a car.
You put in the nozzle,
you fill it up, it doesn't spit back at ya.
And it automatically shuts off, okay.
Could you show me some of these
valves and why
now there's a little airspace
with today's fuel tanks?
Robert: Okay John.
Well to start off this is a
inlet check valve.
This valve is actually going to keep it from
spitting back and wellback.
John: Okay hold on, hold on.
So this is for the fuel fill.
Fuel comes down in here,
and it opens up this valve.
And if it ever gurgles,
it pops it right off. And it keeps it from spitting back.
Robert: It keeps it from spitting back John. John: Okay.
John: And...
So this is for the fill.
We need to have some type of a vent.
Whenever you're filling up liquid
into a fuel tank
air needs to escape.
And this looks like a vent line
is this traditional?
Robert: No. This is a fill limit vent valve.
Okay, this actually allows it to vent
as it's filling, okay. But when the fuel
hits this valve it will shut it off.
John: And that's what is going to create an airspace
in the top of the tank. And this is,
this is what's going to control
expansion, okay when temperature increases.
Okay, fuel will expand and if your tank is
filled to the max it could expand to the point of
going into the water through a vent. Robert: Correct.
John: What do you have in the valving system that's tied in here?
Robert: These are tank vent valves.
We have two on this tank.
This allows it to, as the tank
expands and contracts this allows
the vapors to go through -
through the line into a carbon canister.
This traps the hydrocarbons from escaping into the atmosphere.
The vent lines that are coming off of these
valves will be going through this canister.
Prior to it going out into the atmosphere.
John: Okay so this still allows air
into a tank. This still allows
air to escape from the tank with
expansion and contraction from the heat of the day.
Okay, but it's filtered through carbon
and carbon is very good
at capturing hydrocarbons.
Come on around here! I want to show everybody this.
Cause this is kind of the full system.
Okay and this is really ingenious
Basically here's your fuel fill.
You know you put your gas nozzle in there.
Goes down into the tank,
if it gurgles back up that flapper valve stops it.
Now here's the vent, okay and it's got a check valve in here.
So now as it fills up,
it's only going to fill up to a certain amount.
It's going to allow an air cushion up here.
This is kind of the fudge factor.
Right? Alright, these valves here
allow for the expansion and contraction of the day.
Natural, breathing of the tank.
But now everything is pumped through the
charcoal Delphi filter.
Any what is this device right here on the side?
Robert: That's a p-trap John. John: Show me.
Robert: That device
keeps water from coming into the
carbon canister.
John: So if a wave like splashes on the side of the boat
it's gonna keep the carbon
collecting hydrocarbons rather than the water.
Robert: Correct. John: Okay, now I see that this
is a rotomolded tank from Moeller.
And I've been to the factory I've seen these things actually get manufactured.
Okay and a lot of boat builders will use
rotomolded tanks.
Who's the manufacturer of this aluminum one? Robert: This is an RDS
aluminum tank. Okay.
The difference here is the attachment
on how these fittings are attached to this tank.
Okay, this happens to be a threaded
valve that would thread into
into an existing collar.
John: In the rotomolded tank this is a
snap in type of valve.
What about - do you have flanged fittings?
Robert: Yes we do John. We also have
some flanged fittings which would fit
screwed in into the top of this.
John: Boat manufacturers are very concerned with options.
Okay because remember they have to also comply to the Coast Guard.
And the Coast Guard says for any one of these
valves any one of these fittings you have to have a pie access.
You have to have access to that.
And I wanted to find out variety.
Does Perko offer the most variety?
Robert: Absolutely John. Nobody offers more.
John: Real quick give everybody at home your website.
Robert: perkofuelsystems.com
John: Robert thank you so much.
Right now we need to take a very short time out.
We'll be right back!